The Forge Archives

Busy busy busy.

Here's the skinny on the current situation of Little Fears:

Little Fears is doing very well. Sales still continue to amaze me. We haven't seen a significant drop in sales since its release in July. This is good.

This is also not so good. The current stock of Little Fears selling out in early 2002 is a very real possibility. If it does, this puts Key 20 in a sticky spot: either reprint the mainbook so our core audience can expand or print a supplement to satisfy our current audience. Without outside cash, we won't be able to do both.

The downside to the former is that our current audience is left hanging. Now, I'm not a designer who feels games should be supplemented on a monthly basis, far from it. But there are supplements I want to release for Little Fears and have been promised to the public.

The major downside to the latter is it puts a big fat topper on our appeal. I mean, if you can't get the mainbook... are you going to buy the supplements? Another downside to printing a supplement is that, historically, supplements sales are a tiny percentage of mainbook sales. Not good. However, Little Fears has an audience that I think deserve the opportunity to buy supplements if they so choose.

So... I'm working on solutions to the problems at hand and am sketching out ideas to get some cashflow into Key 20 so we'll be around come Origins 2003.

Phase one of this plan will manifest in the form of the Bedtime Stories trilogy. Three PDFs that will be release on a bimonthly basis starting February 2002. These will retail for $5.00 US and be 32 pages long (see the Revised Release Schedule for more info). This allows us to support LF with minimal cost (see Ron Edwards for more info :wink:) and allow us to put fundage toward our next physical release for Little Fears - Behind the Door.

The second phase is currently in development. I can't talk about it too much until more details are hammered out but I can say that while it won't support Little Fears directly, it will support Key 20 and hopefully open us up to a wider audience. That will allow us the freedom of artsy projects without losing our shirts in the process.

Now, I don't mean to give the impression that Key 20 is destitute. We're good, we really are. Little Fears will still be around and support for it will finally come starting early next year. But it's niche, very much so, and it will be a slow growth.

Anyway, just wanted to give a heads-up. I realize I don't participate much in this forum and I apologize for that but it really is a resource issue. As soon as I finish this module for another horror game I'm working on and the prep work for Phase Two, I'll finally be able to get back to Little Fears and start doing things right.

Thank you for your time and your support of Little Fears. You all have made a dream of mine come true and I owe you all a deep debt that can never truly be repaid. But hopefully my further work in this industry will come close to showing you all how much you mean to me and how much I appreciate your belief in Little Fears and Key 20.

Thank you all.



_________________
Jason L Blair
Editor-in-Chief
Key 20 Publishing
www.key20.com

[ This Message was edited by: Key20Jason on 2001-12-17 05:02 ]

Jason;


I'm glad to hear that LF is doing so swimmingly.  The main suggestion I would give to you you are already incorporating (the PDF idea).  

While the supplement to reprint issue is always sticky, I would say that LF has a strong enough fanbase that you should go supplement, and have the sales from that drive the reprint of LF (which may well be a lower total run).  

I look forward to the future with you guys!  Keep writing... and I'll keep the lights on.


Dav

Jason,

  Let me begin by saying I picked up a copy of Little Fears today at a gaming store in the middle of Minnesota, never having heard of Little Fears or Key20 Publishing. I'm from Cedar Rapids, Iowa and have at least read, if not played any game I could get my hands on.

  Your book is brilliant. After walking through dungeons, playing all types of werewolves, vampires, ghosts and fae, being a demon possesed gambler in the Old West and fighting the forces of Those-That-Should-Not-Be with Wiccan magic, I didn't think anything new under the sun could be done. Then I read Little Fears. You can rest assured I'll be spreading the word in the Heartland.

  Okay, got that off my chest. Now for the real reason I'm posting this reply. I think the PDF format idea is right on. Some gaming companies have done a bit with this idea, but most haven't realized the full potential it can gain. Another idea you could use would be to have some shirts, book covers, etc done for Little Fears. It's gotten many a gaming company off the ground. If you need any help with this or need an expanse on this idea, I'd love to offer some assistance. My roommate is one of the guys who does an online radio show and they've began using this process to gain the capitol to buy a new mixer for the show. It hasn't kicked off quite yet, but we figure after a bit it'll be a great success.

Good luck!

Josh Wasta

Was pleased to discover that I could walk into a gaming shop in Stockholm and pick up a copy of LF.

Just like to take this chance to say I'm very impressed with the treatment of the subject in the game. Can't wait to give it a try.

Steve